Mar 2, 2010

It's quite a thing, killing a man

"Whatever else it is, “Unforgiven” is an argument about how to represent violence, an argument about movies... Where does that leave Eastwood’s character? Eastwood shapes his own performance as a study in rueful abnegation; at times, he looks lost and vulnerable, even sickly. Yet William Munny, however ashamed of killing, has to avenge Logan’s death. “Unforgiven” ends with him gunning down Little Bill and his friends and then riding away, in a return to the kind of familiar myth that the rest of the movie seems to reject. What, one wonders, was the use of that anti-violence business if it all comes to this? Eastwood’s murderous past characters and his regretful new temper appear to have collided on a Western street. By giving the Western extra dimensions, and by pushing the moral issues to extremes, Eastwood had exposed (inadvertently, perhaps) the limits of the genre. “Unforgiven” is both an entertainment and a contradiction, a masterpiece at war with itself.'' — David Denby, The New Yorker

I have the greatest respect for Denby (although he did once send me off to see The Good Shephard on the grounds that it was a 'masterpiece' which it assuredly is not, and he seems way overexcited about the new Polanski). Here he makes the same mistake so many people do when they get to thinking about Unforgiven a little too much. I guess if you stare at it for long enough looking for an 'argument', you would be forced to conclude that the film is a piece of genre deconstruction which exposed the myths of the Western for what they are. By comparison with this sterling exercise, the ending cannot but strike you as anything but a sell-out, a backwards step, a reversion to generic form, a "contradiction". But only if you make the mistake of thinking the first half is "anti-violence." Its not: Eastwood doesn't have it in for violence, he has it in for men who boast of things they do not have the stomach for. "It's quite a thing, killing a man," he says. He has it in for braggarts. Hackman, the biographer, Harris, all of them are examples of boastful men who talk the talk but do not walk the talk. Only William Munny — poor, sick, wheezing William Munny — turns out to know whereof everybody else in the film speaks. That is the central irony of the film, honed from the very first scene, and connecting up with the same silent stoicism that runs through all his work. Denby is rather too keen, one suspects, to explain the difference between early Eastwood, whom he dismissed, with late Eastwood, to whom he is a recent convert. They are of a piece. His take on the underrated A Perfect World, however, is spot on:—

The word for this kind of dramatic structure is “tragedy.” That’s what Eastwood had become capable of. The two movies had depth, nuance, a burnished and reflective nostalgia for a simplicity that was no longer possible. This became definitive in “Mystic River,” from 2003, a movie in which all of Eastwood’s late obsessions—guilt, destruction, self-destruction, vengeance—merge into a completely satisfying work of art.

Do people realise just how good he is? And just how unusual his being that good is? That he isn't just your average actor-turned-director in the manner of Gibson, Beatty, Costner, Redford?

"The book is a must for Woody Allen fans" - Joe Meyers, Connecticut Post

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R E V I E W S

"What makes the book worth taking home, however, is the excellent text... by Tom Shone, a film critic worth reading whatever aspect of the film industry he talks about. (His book Blockbuster is a must).... Most critics are at their best when speaking the language of derision but Shone has the precious gift of being carried away in a sensible manner, and of begin celebratory without setting your teeth on edge." — Clive James, Prospect "The real draw here is Shone’s text, which tells the stories behind the pictures with intelligence and grace. It’s that rarest of creatures: a coffee-table book that’s also a helluva good read." — Jason Bailey, Flavorwire

"There’s a danger of drifting into blandness with this picture packed, coffee-table format. Shone is too vigorous a critic not to put up a fight. He calls Gangs “heartbreaking in the way that only missed masterpieces can be: raging, wounded, incomplete, galvanised by sallies of wild invention”. There’s lots of jazzy, thumbnail writing of this kind... Shone on the “rich, strange and unfathomable” Taxi Driver (1976) cuts to the essence of what Scorsese is capable of." — Tim Robey, The Sunday Telegraph

"A beautiful book on the Taxi Driver director's career by former Sunday Times film critic Tom Shone who relishes Scorsese's "energetic winding riffs that mix cinema history and personal reminiscence".' — Kate Muir,The Times"No mere coffee table book. Shone expertly guides us through Scorsese’s long career.... Shone shows a fine appreciation of his subject, too. Describing Taxi Driver (1976) as having ‘the stillness of a cobra’ is both pithy and apposite.... Fascinating stuff." — Michael Doherty, RTE Guide"An admiring but clear-eyed view of the great American filmmaker’s career... Shone gives the book the heft of a smart critical biography... his arguments are always strong and his insights are fresh. The oversized book’s beauty is matched by its brains”— Connecticut Post

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Click to order

“The film book of the year.... enthralling... groundbreaking.” — The Daily Telegraph

“Blockbuster is weirdly humane: it prizes entertainment over boredom, and audiences over critics, and yet it’s a work of great critical intelligence” – Nick Hornby, The Believer

“Beautifully written and very funny... I loved it and didn’t want it to end.” – Helen Fielding“[An] impressively learned narrative... approachable and enlightening... Shone evinces an intuitive knowledge of what makes audiences respond... One of those rare film books that walks the fine line between populist tub-thumping and sky-is-falling, Sontag-esque screed.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Exhilarating.... wit, style and a good deal of cheeky scorn for the opinions of bien-pensant liberal intellectuals.” – Phillip French, Times Literary Supplement

“Startlingly original... his ability to sum up an actor or director in one well-turned phrase is reminiscent of Pauline Kael’s... the first and last word on the subject. For anyone interested in film, this book is a must read.” – Toby Young, The Spectator

“A history of caring” – Louis Menand, The New Yorker“Smart, observant… nuanced and original, a conversation between the kid who saw Star Wars a couple dozen times and the adult who's starting to think that a handful might have sufficed.” – Chris Tamarri, The Village Voice

"A sweet and savvy page-turner of a valentine to New York, the strange world of fiction, the pleasures of a tall, full glass and just about everything else that matters" — Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan